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Month: February 2019

When Jesus says let us go to the other side, He was not making a Holy suggestion.

He was making a statement. He was announcing their destination would be the other side. Period.

Yet, a storm arose… one of ‘hurricane proportions’ the Bible says. And even though Jesus stated exactly what would be, His disciples took their eyes off Him, and on the ‘storm’- and instantly began to doubt Jesus.

Their faith was replaced with fear, when they gave in to doubt.

Why do people doubt what God tells us in His word?

Usually it’s because of their own experiences, their own understanding of things, what they hear others to say, what they see with their own eyes. All of these things lead people to doubt God when circumstances are different than what God’s Word says.

Consider healing, for example.

Gods Word says in 1Peter 2:24 ‘by His stripes you are healed.’ (Yet, at the moment- you may still be fighting symptoms, ‘feeling’ sick or in pain, or ‘hearing’ certain medical reports that don’t agree with what Gods Word says.

This is where many miss it. They make the decision to not agree with Gods report, Gods Word, and instead, they agree with medical reports, and their own understanding, own feelings, own perceptions of what they are seeing.

One might think and even say ‘yeah, I know that’s what the Bible says, but I am sick! I feel horrible.’ And Satan wins, because he succeeds in getting us to agree with his lies, even to start speaking his lies, because we give in to our feelings, and our own understanding of things…

WHAT???

Who do we think we are???!!!

We are NOT God! We do not, and cannot know all things!

Our own understanding is very limited in comparison to the understanding of God.

Our own thoughts are limited to our own experiences and knowledge but God‘s thoughts have no end and are all knowing.

Facts are things that we know at the moment but later can change.

Facts are composites of one’s opinion. Or of a temporary moment.

For instance- at the moment the fact is I’m sitting in my home working on this devotion. But that that will change in an hour when I leave my home and head on an errand.

Facts change.

Truth is truth regardless of what anyone individual thinks about a subject and truth can never change.

There’s always only one right way and only one wrong way.

Truth or false.

Gods Word is Truth. Always, without fail, 100 % of the time, Gods Word is Truth.

Gods Word changes facts when facts don’t line up to Gods Truth- WHEN we activate our faith in Gods Word, claim it for purses, and speak it boldly.

Notice further into this scripture account, after the disciples frantically woke Jesus up in fear, what Jesus said, and what Jesus did.

He addressed the problem:

He rebuked the wind and commanded the sea to be still.

The Prince of Peace commanded peace to the chaos of the moment, and immediately the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Then He admonished the disciples (followers of Jesus), for being of little faith. He asked ‘why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’

HE WAS IN THE BOAT WITH THEM, and they STILL jumped out of faith, into doubt, because of fear.

The disciples took their eyes off Jesus, forgot what He said about their destination, and allowed the ‘temporary’ moment to overshadow everything else- exactly what Satan tries to do with all of us!

And you know what? If we’re not careful, Satan will do the same thing to us, too. Causes the distractions to get our eyes off of Jesus and onto the problem. Do not let him!

People, Satan is subtle, and bold.

Even when Jesus is ‘in the boat’ with us, he Satan ‘roams around like a lion seeking whom he may devour.’ (1 Peter 5:8)

Resist him! Fear is of the devil- it’s a spirit that God says in 2 Timothy 1:7 He did NOT give us fear.

When God gives us His Word, we can count on Him to do what He says.

Mark 5:1 goes on to tell us “…and they came over to the other side of the sea.”

Now after reading of the magnitude of the storm that Jesus subsided with a few words, it’s easy to overlook these few words in this first verse of chapter 5. But I want to highlight them because they’re extremely important.

‘AND THEY CAME OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SEA.’

Only because Jesus immediately addressed the problem first, commanded peace, and then addressed the disciples fear did they achieve exactly what He originally said would happen.

If we eliminate the in between text, it’s quite simple to see it.

Mark 4:35 “Let us go over to the other side.”

Mark 5:1 “and they came over to the other side…”

The enemy snuck right in there, didn’t he?

Satan heard what Jesus said. And he was determined to destroy the plans of Jesus!

In fact John 10:10 says “the thief comes but only to kill, steal, and destroy.” It’s his job description. It’s what he does. However in the same verse Jesus goes on to say “but I have come that you might have life more abundant. “

Noticed that word “might“? That’s suggestive that you may or may not. My opinion, based on other scriptures, is that the choice is up to us.

Do we agree with God or not?

Do our words and our actions line up with God’s Words? If so, and we use the authority God gave us to use His name, ALL circumstances that arise against us will have to cease.

When Jesus declares a thing, believe Him. Regardless of any circumstance.

We must train ourselves to ‘Trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, lean not on our own understanding, and in ALL our ways, acknowledge Him, and He WILL direct our steps.’ (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Determine now, no matter what, to agree with Gods Word and not your own understanding. In spite of temporary difficulties and apparent limitations, SPEAK THE WORD OF GOD ONLY. (Matthew 8:8)

Watch God perform and do exactly what His Word says- keep on speaking it. Line up with God and get Gods report.

“This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.” (1 John 5:4)